MCX BASE METAL UPDATE

Feb 17

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As per MCX www.crudeoperator.com intraday research Mumbai base company report for :

 Copper pulled back from recent highs

Copper prices slipped on Thursday but the prospect of supply disruption kept the price near a 20-month high. Other base metals were mixed. The focus continued to be Chile’s Escondida mine, majority owned by BHP Billiton Ltd., where a strike over pay has reportedly been postponed while union officials hold mediated talks with management. The strike has now entered its seventh day and, while parties are keen to talk to each other, it seems an agreement will take some time to reach. Copper has retreated since briefly cresting $6,200 a ton for the first time since May 2015 on Monday, but remains up 9% for the year. A production outage at Freeport-McMoRan Inc.’s Grasberg mine in Indonesia because it hadn’t received an export license has added to concern about a potential supply crunch. Brokerage firm Marex Spectron said that in recent sessions buyers have stepped in whenever copper has fallen, but warned that without another upward tilt, funds that bought during the recent run-up will sell out of their positions, weighing on the price. Copper, sometimes referred to as having an economics Ph.D for its ability to track the economy’s health, is on a tear. But its supply rather than demand that’s filling headlines in the current rally.